Overview
The College of Education is dedicated to the advancement of research, scholarship, and artistic productivity. We accomplish this by
- Promoting the dissemination and production of scholarly and creative work;
- Maintaining and supporting research center involvement;
- Encouraging and rewarding the pursuit of all external funding sources for research; and
- Strengthening the research preparation of graduate students.
You will find here the forward-thinking initiatives of the College of Education that encompass and promote the health and education of its community.
Research Centers, Offices, and Labs
Centers
Belser-Parton Literacy Center
The BPLC exists to serve a triad of participants: families, schools, and The University of Alabama, with the central focus on children and how their literacy needs can best be served through excellent teaching and meaningful research.
Center for Interconnected Behavioral and Mental Health Systems
The primary goal of the Center for Interconnected Behavioral and Mental Health Systems (CIBMHS) is to conduct rigorous, federally-funded research in the areas of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and school-based mental health services (also known as the Interconnected Systems Framework). In addition, we are focused on engaging in related externally funded projects and collaborative undertakings across Center affiliates in counseling, social work, Human and Environmental Sciences and Arts & Sciences.
Center for the Study of Ethical Development
The Center for the Study of Ethical Development (the Center) began in the early 1970s as faculty and students from various disciplines began to meet informally to discuss research on moral development. The major activity of the Center has been research with the Defining Issues Test, a measure of moral judgment development. However, attention has also been given to other research tools, especially as a wider conception of moral development has emerged. This wider conception of moral development was proposed by James Rest in the early 1980s, and is referred to as “The Four Component Model of Morality.”
Education Policy Center
In support of the mission of The University of Alabama and its College of Education, the Education Policy Center works to improve the quality of life for all Alabamians through expanding access, strengthening equity, and advancing economic and community development.
Research Assistance Services
The College of Education’s Research Assistance Services provide faculty and graduate students with advice and instruction in designing quantitative and qualitative research studies, selecting and developing instruments, setting up analyses, and using software.
UA/UWA Regional In-Service Center
The UA/UWA In-Service Center provides professional learning and growth opportunities for the teachers, administrators, counselors, and librarians of twelve (12) school districts within nine (9) area counties.Offices
Office of Research and Service
The Office for Research and Service (ORS) was established to coordinate research, grant, and service efforts among faculty and centers in the College of Education. The ORS assists faculty and centers with the development and submission of contract/grant proposals, as well as technical assistance and budget oversight for funded contracts/grants.
Alabama Positive Behavior Support Office
The Alabama Positive Behavior Support Office is a statewide technical assistance and research agency that focuses on preventing challenging behavior, improving school climate and student outcomes, and supporting students at-risk for and with disabilities. This Office provides technical assistance through (1) initial and booster training in schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), (2) Tier 2 PBIS training, (3) Tier 3 PBIS training, (4) three-tiered coaching and ongoing support, and (5) PBIS, discipline, and school climate data collection and analysis.
Office of Diversity Initiatives and Faculty Development
The Office of Diversity Initiatives and Faculty Development maintains ways to enhance minority faculty recruitment and strengthens the retention of faculty demonstrating high levels of professional accomplishment.
Evidence-based International Early Intervention Office (EIEIO)
The EIEIO is the academic and administrative home of the Routines-Based Model (RBM). Its affiliates are the members of The RAM Group, a community of practitioners, administrators, trainers, and researchers familiar with and supportive of the RBM. These members have completed the CARBON to determine whether they are familiar enough with the model to participate as full members or ancillary members. At The University of Alabama, faculty and students interested in affiliation with the EIEIO would complete the CARBON to become members of The RAM Group.
Gifted Education and Talent Development Office (GETDO)
The Gifted Education and Talent Development Office (GETDO) is a research-related office about gifted education and gifted individuals. Additional activities related to research include outreach to families of gifted children, student programming, community engagement, professional development, and materials development.
Office of Evaluation Research and School Improvement
The Office of Evaluation, part of The University of Alabama’s College of Education, provides comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and measurement services to determine the effectiveness of research, training, and service program across the campus, the state, and the nation. We conduct program monitoring and evaluation to inform decisions and policy to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and results.
Office of International Programs
The College of Education has provided educational opportunities to American-sponsored overseas schools through the Office of International Programs since 1966.
Office of School Partnerships
The vision of the University of Alabama College of Education Office of School Partnerships is a collaborative network of partners that exist to promote innovation and improvement in area schools.
Office of Clinical Experiences
The Office of Clinical Experiences (OCE) was established to coordinate the placement of undergraduate students, alternative certification program students, and select graduate program students enrolled in courses requiring field placements and internships. Major relationships have been established with principals and instructional supervisors in local school systems in the west Alabama area and, to a limited extent, other school systems in Alabama.Labs
Brain, Learning and Education (BLE) Lab
The Brain, Learning, and Education Lab investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms explaining math achievement and gains in math performance over time using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potentials (ERPs), focusing on the role of both cognitive and affective factors.
Embodied Learning Design and Educational Neuroscience
The ELDEN (Embodied Learning Design and Educational Neuroscience) Lab was founded in 2015. The current research in the ELDEN Lab mainly focuses on numerical cognition, mathematics learning, and embodied cognition, in addition to wider interests in cognitive and developmental disorders, evolution of cognition, STEM learning, and computational modeling. We conduct behavioral, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and design-based investigations for our research. Our approach to learning and cognition is framed by embodied and evolutionary theories of cognition, with a particular emphasis on how bodily systems ground cognition and how cognitive abilities have evolved through reuse of existing sensorimotor systems.
Neuroscience of Education Research on Development
The Neuroscience of Education Research on Development (NERD) Lab at the University of Alabama studies how the human brain supports learning across the lifespan by examining the neurobiology of language processing and acquisition.
Social, Emotional, and EDucational Neuroscience Lab
The Social, Emotional, and EDucational Neuroscience Lab at the University of Alabama College of Education, the SEED Neuroscience Lab, studies how to promote students’ social, emotional, and motivational development in educational settings by utilizing various neuroscientific research methods, including but not limited to, functional MRI (fMRI), structural MRI, psychological intervention, and computer simulation methods. We conduct research projects focusing on moral development and education, growth mindset, and effective educational interventions promoting positive youth development.Widely-cited Research Works
Ultra-Short-Term Heart Rate Variability Indexes at Rest and Post-Exercise in Athletes: Evaluating the Agreement with Accepted Recommendations. JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE AND MEDICINE, 13(3), 535-541.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the agreement of the vagal-related heart rate variability index, log-transformed root mean square of successive R-R intervals (lnRMSSD), measured under ultra-short-term conditions (< 60 seconds) with conventional longer term recordings of 5 minutes in collegiate athletes under resting and post-exercise conditions. Electrocardiographic readings were collected from twenty-three athletes within 5-minute segments at rest and at 25-30 minutes of supine recovery following a maximal exercise test. From each 5-minute segment, lnRMSSD was recorded as the criterion measure. Within each 5-minute segment, lnRMSSD was also determined from randomly selected ultra-short-term segments of 10-, 30-, and 60-seconds in length, which were compared to the criterion. When compared to the criterion measures, the significant intraclass correlation (from 0.98 to 0.81, p < 0.05) and typical error (from 0.11 to 0.34) increased as ultra-short-term measurement duration decreased (i.e., from 60 seconds to 10 seconds). In addition, the limits of agreement (Bias +/- 1.98 SD) increased as ultra-short-term lnRMSSD duration decreased as follows: 0.00 +/- 0.22 ms, -0.07 +/- 0.41 ms, -0.20 +/- 0.94 ms for the 60-, 30-, and 10-second pre-exercise segments, respectively, and -0.15 +/- 0.39 ms, -0.14 +/- 0.53 ms, -0.12 +/- 0.76 ms for the 60-, 30-, and 10-second post-exercise segments, respectively. This study demonstrated that as ultra-short-term measurement duration decreased from 60 seconds to 10 seconds, the agreement to the criterion decreased. Therefore, 60 seconds appears to be an acceptable recording time for lnRMSSD data collection in collegiate athletes.
(2014) Steam as Social Practice: Cultivating Creativity in Transdisciplinary Spaces, Art Education, 67:6, 12-19, DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2014.11519293
In the wake of the economic recession and increasing competition from developing economies, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has emerged as a national priority. To art educators, however, the pervasiveness and apparent exclusivity of STEM can be viewed as another instance of art education being relegated to the margins of curriculum (Greene, 1995). Taking a different perspective, we find it helpful to look past STEM as a vehicle for promoting economic growth and international competitiveness and view it as a means toward overcoming the compartmentalized disciplinary approach to education (Holley, 2009). Considered in this way, STEM is about collaboration. In an educational setting, this means taking subjects that have previously been taught in isolation and weaving them into an integrated curriculum—a transdisciplinary endeavor that has the potential to lead to exciting and unexpected outcomes that can transcend the traditional goals of disciplinary education to address questions of social practice. Recently there have been calls to expand STEM education to include the arts and design, transforming STEM into STEAM in the K-20 classroom (Maeda, 2013). Like STEM, STEAM education stresses making connections between disciplines that were previously perceived as disparate. This has been conceptualized in different ways, such as: focusing on the creative design process that is fundamental to engineering and art (Bequette & Bequette, 2012); emphasizing the role of creative and synthetic thinking to enhance student interest and learning in science and mathematics; and showing the value in exploring the science and mathematics that underpin different artistic techniques (Wynn & Harris, 2012). In this article, we describe how a collaboration between art education, engineering, and landscape architecture led us to conceptualize STEAM as a social practice that reflects concerns for community engagement and ecological sustainability.
Latrise P. Johnson. (2017) Writing the Self: Black Queer Youth Challenge Heteronormative Ways of Being in an After-School Writing Club, 52, 1, 13-33.
In the wake of the economic recession and increasing competition from developing economies, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has emerged as a national priority. To art educators, however, the pervasiveness and apparent exclusivity of STEM can be viewed as another instance of art education being relegated to the margins of curriculum (Greene, 1995). Taking a different perspective, we find it helpful to look past STEM as a vehicle for promoting economic growth and international competitiveness and view it as a means toward overcoming the compartmentalized disciplinary approach to education (Holley, 2009). Considered in this way, STEM is about collaboration. In an educational setting, this means taking subjects that have previously been taught in isolation and weaving them into an integrated curriculum—a transdisciplinary endeavor that has the potential to lead to exciting and unexpected outcomes that can transcend the traditional goals of disciplinary education to address questions of social practice. Recently there have been calls to expand STEM education to include the arts and design, transforming STEM into STEAM in the K-20 classroom (Maeda, 2013). Like STEM, STEAM education stresses making connections between disciplines that were previously perceived as disparate. This has been conceptualized in different ways, such as: focusing on the creative design process that is fundamental to engineering and art (Bequette & Bequette, 2012); emphasizing the role of creative and synthetic thinking to enhance student interest and learning in science and mathematics; and showing the value in exploring the science and mathematics that underpin different artistic techniques (Wynn & Harris, 2012). In this article, we describe how a collaboration between art education, engineering, and landscape architecture led us to conceptualize STEAM as a social practice that reflects concerns for community engagement and ecological sustainability.
Student Publications
coming soon